The ‘silent’ war on Gaza’s hospitals

What We’re Reading

Gaza

The director of a hospital destroyed during ‘Protective Edge’ has managed to rebuild part of the facility. Now he has about a month’s worth of fuel left to keep its back-up generators running. Without them, the hospital faces another complete shutdown.

Among the many, complicated and vague protocols and procedures that govern (and enable) Israel’s control over millions of Palestinians, there is one that ostensibly allows Gaza residents to change their official address to the West Bank, a would-be crack in the tight closure over the Gaza Strip.

“Is Trump’s combination of a pro-Israel brand and a bit of prodding towards peace really all it will take to get that deal?” asks Dahlia Scheindlin. “There is no guarantee that Trump will concretely pressure Israel into the major concessions that will be needed.”

A leading Arabic daily on Saturday claimed the Trump administration has declined an Israeli proposal to delay the US president’s first visit to the region until June when the Jewish states celebrates the 50th anniversary of its historic victories in the Six Day War. There was no confirmation of the report.

“Security Council Resolution 2334 is territorial by nature, and it fits the United States’ approach to territorial matters in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It represents the basic American stance with regards to territory and borders,” writes Shemuel Meir.

Abbas-Trump meeting

“It’s clear that if Trump is at all serious about reining in Israeli behaviors (and there is no evidence that he is), he will have to move from mild admonitions to cracking the whip,” writes James Zogby.

Palestinian politics

Islamic Jihad said Saturday that it rejects any move to accepting a the establishment of a Palestinian state limited to the 1967 borders after Hamas released a new program that appeared to marginally soften its stance on the issue while still calling for Israel’s destruction.

Haniya, 54, is expected to remain in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian enclave run by Hamas since 2007, unlike Meshaal who lives in exile in Qatar’s capital, Doha, and has completed the maximum two terms in office.